Johannesburg – It did not come as a surprise when Bloemfontein Celtic owner Max Tshabalala rung the changes at the Free State club because he is the cause of the current financial quagmire Celtic finds itself in and it is as old as his takeover four years ago.
This PSL club has had a scandalous history of being in financial dire straits even before Covid- 19 hit international sport and local football at the beginning of last year, with players threatening to go on strike due to non-payment of salaries.
So, for Tshabalala to put the blame on the coronavirus pandemic for the cash-flow problems besetting Phunya Sele Sele is rich coming from him as he has been running the outfit for close to five years now.
Astonishingly, the Celtic head honcho has also blamed the lack of a headline sponsor for the latest financial difficulties hitting the club.4
A number of PSL clubs, such as high-riding Golden Arrows, have been without major sponsors for decades.
In comes the second protagonist into the fray of those facing Tshabalala’s wrath of not being able to attract sponsorships; the club’s (former) CEO Khumbulani Konco was fired this week for allegedly failing to timeously write a lett er responding to a prospective backer’s correspondence.
I must hasten to say that what Konco, who according to Tshabalala is among a number of the highest earning administrators “retrenched”, told the SA Football Journalist Association presser he did not see it coming is inconceivable. Konco and Tshabalala are said to have gone hammer and tongs at each other in a nasty stand-off , coupled with a heated exchange of words, however, both “gentlemen” have denied the filibuster.
But Konco should have known better – unless he is bluffing. He is renowned for having served Maselesele for three seasons as a player and an official, a period totaling 20 years, to come and tell us his axing hit him like a thunderbolt is unbelievable.
The mere fact that he was not the only one, as Tshabalala said he was left with no option but to cut the staff complement of top earners to financially survive the Covid-19 era, Konco must have known as CEO that the books were not balancing.
To be asked to step down in the form of a retrenchment is not an overnight process, unless it was done Tshabalala’s way, disregarding section 189 of the Labour Relations Act.
That said, Tshabalala admitted that due to him being unable to secure a sponsor pumping millions of rand into the club’s coffers, he was running the club and paying players from his own pocket via his business, which was draining him.
In football you don’t burn your bridges.
Who knows, Konco might be back at the Mangaung-based club sooner than we can say “retrenched”? Now that a prospective sponsor is on the horizon, Tshabalala overhauls his staff in a clever move to maximise what the backers will be bringing to the table, naively unaware the retrenchment shenanigans would repulse the very sponsors he wants to attract.
Football and Celtic followers have suffered enough under the “leadership” of the unpredictable Tshabalala.
Once again, if the heat is too much to handle, Tshabalala should give other businesspeople a chance. Masala Mulaudzi did it at TTM.
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